ZooChat Big Year 2017

I assume so, their numbers go up and down in between my visits but I don't know if they're given a helping hand. They are the towns most well known factor but according to Wikipedia they are part of an "urban sanctuary" but I'm not quite sure what that means? @gentle lemur may know as he lives locally.

 

Dawlish's black swans have certainly bred, but they're basically restricted to a narrow waterway through the centre of the town. Wardens manage the birds, which are given food, shelter, and veterinary care; the current warden is a former bird keeper at Paignton Zoo. I personally wouldn't count them as wild any more than free-ranging chickens.

 

@Giant Panda many thanks for the info, I was slightly confused by the towns signage which states that they are a wild population.

 

85. Eurasian Collared Dove

 

Mammals:
18. American Mink
19. Arctic Ground Squirrel

 

From RSPB Bempton Cliffs today. It seems that I was very lucky with a lot of species staying very late. There were still about 100 puffins and even some razorbill chicks.

461) Northern Gannet
462) Black-legged Kittiwake
463) Razorbill
464) Atlantic Puffin
465) Common Guillemot
466) Northern Fulmar
467) Arctic Skua
468) Great Skua


50) Harbour Porpoise
51) Common Bottlenose Dolphin
52) Grey Seal

 

One addition from an evening run to RSPB Old Moor:

194. Green Sandpiper - Tringa ochropus

 

Checked my previous entries, I've made a little mistake. Eurasian curlew is #136 as noted on a previous post, which means Woodchat shrik should be #137 and the Rufous-tailed scrub robin should be bird number #138 and so on.

Had a good day at Issen (as per usual) but my bird-watching session was mainly marked by the presence of quite some Rufous-tailed scrub-robins and this fellow :

139 - Black-winged kite , Elanus caeruleus - Pictured (a really bad picture)

 

Lots of interesting and unusual species seen from a day at Spurn Head and surrounds:

469) Eurasian Hobby
470) Common Crossbill
471) Manx Shearwater
472) Sandwich Tern
473) Roseate Tern
474) Purple Sandpiper
475) Common Eider
476) Common Scoter
477) Grey Plover
478) Brent Goose

53) Common Seal

Other interesting things included a variety of waders that were my first European sightings for the year but I had seen earlier in the year in Thailand such as a really close view of a Curlew Sandpiper and also huge numbers of many waders. Although I did miss a few unusual species that had been seen in the area over the last few days (such as White-rumped Sandpiper and American Golden Plover), I'm really pleased with what I've seen today and having a scope with me proved invaluable despite being a right pain to carry around.

That should be everything that I can identified, though I may be able to ID a few more things from pictures if I have another look later.

When I get around to it, I'll check what my Europe-only (Poland + UK) year list is, I'm sure it must be my highest ever.

 

Birds
171. Asian Koel

Fish
286. Panther Flounder
287. Whitley's Basslet
288. Sharksucker
289. Green Queenfish
290. Sordid Snapper
291. Coral Beauty
292. Yellowback Fusilier
293. Goldband Fusilier

Reptiles
14. Asian Wolf Snake



Hix

 

On Christmas island, the species was introduced here back in the 90's. I came home after dinner and found a hatchling on my front porch.



Hix

 

86. Western Gull

 

102) Common Nightingale
103) Willow tit
104) Pink-footed goose

 

87. Brown Pelican
88. Pelagic Cormorant

 

Birds
172. Black-winged Stilt (Australian) - Himantopus leucocephalus



Hix

 

Just gone through to check a few more wader IDs from the day above and I can add:

479) Little Stint

 

Birds:
49. Channel-Billed Cuckoo (Scythrops novaehollandiae)
50. White-Bellied Sea Eagle (Haliaeetus leucogaster)
51. Figbird (Sphecotheres vieilloti)

 

Noticed I haven't updated in over a month - in that time I have seen six new birds, two mammals, a fish, five butterflies and moths, three dragon and damselflies and two Orthoptera. All of the birds, one of the mammals and the fish were all added on a recent trip to Northumberland.

145. Northern gannet Morus bassanus
146. Common eider Somateria mollissima (Nt)
147. Sandwich tern Thalasseus sandvicensis
148. Atlantic puffin Fratercula arctica (Vu)
149. Arctic tern Sterna paradisaea
150. Razorbill Alca torda (Nt)

22. Common house mouse Mus musculus
23. Western roe deer Capreolus capreolus

8. Sand goby Pomatoschistus minutus

18. Ringlet butterfly Aphantopus hyperantus
19. Small skipper butterfly Thymelicus sylvestris
20. Cinnabar moth Tyria jacobaeae
21. Gatekeeper butterfly Pyronia tithonus
22. Six-spot burnet moth Zygaena filipendulae

13. Emerald damselfly Lestes sponsa
14. Brown hawker dragonfly Aeshna grandis
15. Common darter dragonfly Sympetrum striolatum

1. Meadow grasshopper Chorthippus parallelus
2. Roesel's bush cricket Metrioptera roeselii

 

Haven't had any additions in a while, but my list here wasn't totally up-to-date yet.
118. Eurasian Reed Warbler (Acrocephalus scirpaceus)
119. Western Yellow Wagtail (Motacilla flava)
120. Common Cuckoo (Cuculus canorus)
121. European Greenfinch (Chloris chloris)

MAMMALS
7. Bank Vole (Myodes glareolus)
8. Brown Rat (Rattus norvegicus)

HERPTILES
3. Edible Frog (Pelophylax kl. esculentus)